useful
part of speech
adjective (useful, more useful, most useful)
meaning for a pupil
1) Something useful helps you do something or is good for a purpose. tree →
2) A useful person helps a lot. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life, useful things help with jobs: a torch is useful in a power cut. In school, «useful words» and «useful tips» help with writing; in maths, a number line is a useful tool. In science, some insects like bees and worms are useful to farmers. In safety, it is useful to know your address and an emergency number by heart.
examples
- Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893) tree →
- A ruler is useful for drawing straight lines. tree →
- Thanks, that was really useful advice. tree →
- Worms are useful because they make soil healthy. tree →
- It's useful to know your phone number by heart. tree →
- A torch is useful when the lights go out. tree →
- She made herself useful by setting the table. tree →
- Which tool would be most useful here? tree →
- Could anything be more exciting or more useful? tree →
note
Spelt with one l at the end: useful (not «usefull»). Opposite: «useless». Comparative «more useful». «Useful» is said of things that help; «used» means old or second-hand. Say «a useful» (sounds like «yoo»), not «an useful».
In the corpora
- Some retired people miss the routine, their workmates and the feeling of being useful.
- Using a bot to find spelling mistakes is useful if you learn from the corrections.
- For simple jobs with live data, such as timers and weather, voice assistants are usually useful.
- Small does not mean worse at everything; a small model can be useful in a careful way.
- Useful feedback is kind, specific and helpful: it names something that works and one clear thing to improve.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «useful» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.